So the first job was getting installed and patched. I gave up on Everquest quite some time ago after a drawn out battle between addiction and frustration. It culumnated in me signing up with Anarchy Online instead, which probably wasn't the healthiest way out, but from that point, I became a very jaded migratory gamer, and no single game has ever captivated me quite so utterly.
At any rate, it turns out I have only three of NINE expansions! God only knows what groovy new features I'm missing, so I suspect the general usefulness of this mini-review could be better, but then again, the bits I do have, (Everquest, Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Vellious and Shadows of Luclin) ought to be enough to get by.
Patching took 40 minutes, which isn't bad considering how old the CDs are, but then once you get to the point where every single file on the CD gets replaced, it can't take any longer, and I currently have access to a very big internet connection, albiet shared.
The most remarkable thing after that, was finding my original characters still intact and ready to go. I have a strange mental image of a gnome magician sat motionless against the wall of a tunnel, unblinking as dust and cobwebs cover them down the years, then just suddenly getting up and going shopping. But to SOE's credit, I don't have to start again, which is nice.
The character select screen bought home something quite shocking to me though...I am a casual gamer!
This suprised me, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Despite spending at least as much time playing PC games as I do at work, my all time record level in EQ was 29. I did this on three separate characters, but every time...29. That's not even half way! (Although due to the geometric nature of xp level requirements, 'half-way' is actually nearer 45 in straight points.) My god! I put YEARS into that game...what was I doing wrong?
Anarchy Online: 79/220, Asheron's Call 2: 24/50, Everquest II: 23/50 (so far, and fading fast). Other games show a similar lack of achievement, if not actually having levels in the same sense. The pattern was becoming clear...I'm an online flake, and have never 'won' anything.
In my defence, every time I poke the Bartle Test I come up so 'Explorer' it hurts, marking me down as one of life's potterers...more interested in poking about the world and mechanics than Playing It Like I'm Supposed To. I get increasingly bored of treadmills too these days, identifying them sooner and sooner. All of this means I drift easily...drift on out of Current Game, toward New Game.
Still, reassured that the months I ground at to get to the dizzy hieghts of 29 hadn't been wasted, I promptly created a new character!
You see in these days of 'XP Debt', 'Resurection Penalties' and the like, death isn't such a big deal online, but back in the good old days, death in EQ was a royal Bitch. You lost XP, gone, poof! In some cases you even lost a level. In all cases, the lost XP would represent anywhere up to days and weeks of previous gameplay to replace in grinding. Added to that was an corpse recovery from the feet of whatever killed you - mandatory if you ever wanted to see your armour, weapons, bags, etc, again. And the respawn point could be as many as twenty zones away. Hardcore! Kids today don't know they're born...
So having forgotten pretty much everything I knew about how to play, I figured I'd start with a disposable character, rather than instantly set my precious level 29 back a week...
Cont Tomorrow - The Tutorial...